Review and thoughts about the book Prince Lestat
So yeah, the last VC book I read before this was Blackwood Farm, all the way back when it was first published in 2002. I've said before that, at the time, it was consciously the last book in the series that I read; that I consciously decided back then to end my book reading and VC fandom with Blackwood Farm.
And I did. I still remained on the periphery of fandom a bit after that, due to things like the announcement of the musical and such. But, before now, I didn't pick up and read another new VC book after finishing Blackwood Farm back in 2002. Until now.
Which, granted, means the only book I missed reading between then and now (aside from the Prince Lestat trilogy) is Blood Canticle. And given the hatred of that book when it first came out? (Because boy oh boy do I remember the scathing comments and reviews from fandom with that book when it first came out!) Yeah, I'm not ever planning to read it, even now.
So, sitting down to read a "new" VC book (to me) for the first time in decades had a bit of a nostalgic feeling to it for me.
And all in all? I liked the book, for the most part. When it comes to characters and developing interesting ones, when Anne Rice hits, she hits. There were several new characters whom I found myself liking and being interested in right away, particularly Gregory, Roshamandes, and Benedict.
In fact, I wish we had gotten even more details about the Blood Wars and the Queen's Blood vs the First Brood. Seriously, all the ancients who were part of that conflict -- and who were introduced in this book -- fascinated me, and I wanted to read about and learn so many more details than we got about it all.
My main problem with the story in the book, however, was its climax. Or, I guess I should say, the climax of the external story. Because the internal conflict story, which of course, centered around Lestat, was much better executed and handled.
But Rice had always been better at resolving internal conflicts than external ones with her stories IMO. You see this in Queen of the Damned too, IMO. When Rice does a world-ending apocalyptic story, I don't think she really knows how to do a satisfying climax to end those bigger, external conflicts. And instead, the threat that had to be confronted just ends up kind of petering out.
And this one does so in a way that I think is even more anticlimactic than the one-punch-from-Mekare one in QotD. I don't want to go into spoilers, but I couldn't help but just groan out loud when Benedict was called, and he told everyone what was going on.
To not admit my interest waned somewhat after that would be lying.
That said, Lestat's encounter with Mekare toward the end was both gruesome, sad, but satisfying. And yes was, in essence, the real and true climax of the book, not the other one with Rosh, or what was simultaneously going on with Benedict and Viktor. So it wasn't all disappointing.
But speaking of Viktor, oh boy. Look, I get what I think Rice was trying to do with him (and before she died, I guess Rice might have had plans for him, at least from what I've been told), but I'm sorry. He very much just comes off as a plot device to me.
Rose worked much better in that "human child" role IMO. And for me, that just might be because Lestat at least knew of her existence (hell, he was the one to save her when she was a child) and was rather active in her life for the majority of it. Heck, even Louis played a role in Rose's life, too, when she was younger.
Rose was clearly their "second chance." To get right what they got wrong with Claudia and, in that context, Rose's part in the story worked for me.
In contrast, Lestat didn't even know of Viktor's existence until the meeting to gather and discuss the conflict was set to happen. And when he was finally told, it was only being used as leverage to try and get Lestat to go to New York instead of Guatemala to check on Maharet.
And even then, that didn't work, and Lestat went to check on Maheret first anyway. Which then just left the door to the kidnapping to happen. Which then only lasted at most 24 hours, and ended just because it all fell apart in, IMO, a sad and anticlimactic fashion.
In a way, Viktor also just felt like a way to give Rose a ready-made companion, too. I don't hate his character or anything, but I wouldn't have missed him if he weren't there.
It was nice seeing a lot of the old characters from the previous books show up again, though the biggest surprise for me was Davis showing up again! I remember reading about him for the first time in the Baby Jenks chapter in Queen of the Damned, and the happy surprise I had that he was a black vampire. Which we'd never seen before in the books up to that point. And which, yeah, as a young black reader of these books at the time I first read QotD, yeah, you can wonder, more than once, if anyone that looks like you even exists in worlds like this. So I very vividly remember 17-year-old me doing a double-take when Davis first showed up as I was first reading QotD.
And I really thought Davis had died, along with everyone else in the Fang Gang, during Akasha's burnings. So, to learn that Davis actually survived while reading this book? Hell, that gave me a nostalgic thrill. And it was nice to see him get more fleshed out with a background as well.
Devil's Minion fan that I am, I, of course, wish we had gotten more with Daniel and Armand, but hell, at least Daniel was actually there, given the way Rice clearly lost interest in writing about him. And the final chapter mention of the two of them hunting together in the rain? I'll take what I can get, and that is a lovely image to have of them.
The way the book ended leaves many things wide open, but I was fine with that. Particularly with Louis and Lestat, and the setup for Louis to become a more active character and be with Lestat again, that is very much there at the end. I liked the revelations Louis came to about his past, and how he wanted to live now, going forward.
I'm also really intrigued by the spirits and ghosts plot threat that also appeared to be set up in the book. I was actually surprised how much set up and building was going on with that plot thread, even given the Amel threat that was the heart of the conflict. If I'm looking forward to anything when it comes to reading the next book, Realms of Atlantis, it's about that.
All in all, not a bad book, though, again, I think the setup and world-building towards confronting the main external conflict were better than the resolution of that main external conflict. But taken as a setup for more to come, as well as the characters and internal dynamics and stories, I think it works solidly on that level. And I am looking forward to starting Realms of Atlantis now.
Rating: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ out of 4
